Gai Lan

During our vacation in Taiwan I discovered that I really liked the cuisine: high quality fresh ingredients, prepared simply but skillfully to allow the flavor of the ingredients to shine. Vegetables were often prepared very simply: stir fried with a lot of garlic and a bit of chilli and then steamed by adding water. Sometimes ginger is added, or dried shrimp, or some strips of pork.

Not all the Taiwanese vegetables are available here, but gai lan comes pretty close to the type of leafy vegetables we’ve had on numerous occasions in Taiwanese restaurants. Gai lan is also known as Chinese broccoli or Chinese kale. Like kale and broccoli it is from the large cabbage family and to me seems like halfway between broccoli and bok choy. Here’s my take on stir fried gai lan with garlic and chilli.

Ingredients

gai lan

garlic

chilli

salt

oil for stir frying

Instructions

Gai lan has quite thick stems that take longer to cook then the leaves. Separate the leaves from the thick stems, and break off the stems from the leaves.

Slice the thick stems.

Heat oil in a wok and add chopped ginger and sliced chilli. Stir fry for a minute, but do not let the garlic turn brown.

Add the sliced stems and stir fry for 2 minutes.

Add the thinner stems and stir fry for another minute.

Now add the leaves.

Stir fry until the leaves start to wilt.

Season with salt and add some water. I noticed that in Taiwan the vegetables were always served sitting in a lot of water — I prefer to use less water.

Cover the wok so the gai lan can steam.

Allow to steam until the gai lan stems are tender but still firm to the bite. If you cook them for too long, they will become limp and lose their fresh flavor. Taste and add more salt if needed.

Lucky us! Even in our country supermarkets about 8-9 Chinese vegetables are usually available. Yes well, once one learns to prepare such in their usual simple ways, one kind’of bypasses other recipes . . . these are too easy to make and simply too good . . . water: hardly any in my finished dishes . . .

For interested readers: Have just looked up the Nielsen ratings for Australia: Chinese veg usage has risen 22% in the past year with pak choi, bok choi, choy sum. wombok, gai choy and gail lan most used and common in 1/3 of the households in the states of NSW and Victoria . . . well, methinks, a much larger % would use wombok . . . still aways to go but exciting . . .

We eat veg prepared in a similar style almost daily. I peel the stems of the gai lan and then it’s only necessary to stir fry. They keep there colour flavour and texture much better that way. A touch of chilli, a little garlic oil, same of sesame oil and oyster sauce is my favourite way